You are talking about splicing human genes with genes of an armadillo…
Number 1, I agree with you. Numbers 2 and 3, not so much. Concierge medicine is a thing now, and if genetic modification is available to make “something” better, people will pay. And then there will be consequences.
I am far more concerned about the ethical ramifications so are so important even now: just because you can, does it mean you should? We can keep a baby alive born at 23 weeks now, and we will, but it’ll be blind, deaf, profoundly developmentally altered. because science.
Before I get labeled an anti-science-flat-earther, I am all for genetic research and engineering. Who wouldn’t love to see DM, CP, et al., a thing of the past like polio?
Tell me how that won’t happen. Not specifically an armadillo–that’s just an example I came up with for illustration–but you KNOW some bright person will decide that the “super soldier” needs some capabilities that certain animals have, and that will get into the general population.
You can say that’s tinfoil hat conspiracy if you want to, but with all the things human beings have created, name one that hasn’t been misused.
THIS time we are talking about the potential corruption of the entire human genome. No, it won’t happen overnight. It could take decades.
But tell me what will prevent it?
They couldn’t even keep the killer bees locked up for Pete’s sake. We live in fear of ISIS or Al Qaeda getting their hands on a nuke. Fukushima is still poisoning that part of the world.
Explain to me in detail, if you can, how gene splicing won’t turn out to be another horror long-term?
Honestly, I hope I don’t live to see the world this is going to create.
Population is already on pace to start to decline as birth rates have dropped. People are living longer, so it will take some time to work through, but look at Japan now, the future demographics of China and the population (excluding immigration) of western Europe. People alive today will probably see peak population.
AI, nuclear weapons, global warming, silent spring, mass starvation-- actually it is a Mark 1 Mod 0 space rock that will get us.
Genetics are a tool. This is not your Bronze Age selective breeding. It is the direct manipulation of the genome. The worst thing is there will be errors and horrible outcomes as they develop the tech and someone always overdrives the scientific headlights.
Super soldiers? There are already humans that have four color receptors, adding one for IR seems to be a pretty basic task. Just the ‘standard’ four would make detecting camo easier.
As in AI, the genetic thing- outside of repairing horrible genetic based diseases- strikes me funny. We have been literally (up until the last 100 years) to be the apex predator, it would seem in our galaxy. But we think that we can do it better. Millions of years of evolution of hominids and we think we have a better plan, like we are some junker in a History Channel house repair TV show.
Doc, are you anti vaccinations as well?
No, and I think you only posted that because you want to steer the narrative into proving I must be some kind of nut that’s against all medical advances or something.
Nice try but I didn’t just fall off the lettuce truck.
They are not even apples and oranges, more like apples and Brave New World.
Gene splicing will end our civilization as we know it. If that’s okay with you, then enjoy your new genetic hybrid world. Hell, you may even get a dog that will talk to you and sit at the table and eat dinner with you, if that’s what you want.
You may be able to inject yourself with something that gives you a porn-star-sized sex organ. Wouldn’t that be nice?
But what if that injection causes your member to fall off in a few years?
No, these people are playing God and messing with things that they do not have the expertise or wisdom to control.
Tell me again–I missed your explanation on how this won’t get out of control.
If I missed that post, please point it out to me.
Do I think people could use this to go to far for vanity purposes? Sure but they already do that with plastic surgery. Do I think we are going to splice animal genes in to create super mutants? No because there are medical ethics and it should be regulated appropriately.
There is so much amazing potential from this that it is crazy to say it should be abandoned and burned to the ground because you’ve watched a few too many science fiction movies.
Oh, brother. I don’t even like science fiction movies. Most of them are just impossible or stupid or both. I obtain my fear of what they will do with this just watching and reading news stories. Just look around you and see how rotten people are. You think a few good ethical scientists will be able to keep this genie from getting out of the bottle? Are you really that naive? And I don’t want to insult you but your argument is really just unicorns and rainbows.
I will ask you again: explain to me in detail how this won’t happen. And if you think “ethics” will carry the day, I think you are smart enough to know that medical people violate rules of ethics all the time. Please don’t insult my intelligence by trying to float that turd in the punch bowl.
Here’s just a small appetizer for your Brave New World banquet:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/545106/human-animal-chimeras-are-gestating-on-us-research-farms/
The effort to incubate organs in farm animals is ethically charged because it involves adding human cells to animal embryos in ways that could blur the line between species.
Last September, in a reversal of earlier policy, the National Institutes of Health announced it would not support studies involving such “human-animal chimeras” until it had reviewed the scientific and social implications more closely.
The agency, in a statement, said it was worried about the chance that animals’ “cognitive state” could be altered if they ended up with human brain cells.
The NIH action was triggered after it learned that scientists had begun such experiments with support from other funding sources, including from California’s state stem-cell agency. The human-animal mixtures are being created by injecting human stem cells into days-old animal embryos, then gestating these in female livestock.
Based on interviews with three teams, two in California and one in Minnesota, MIT Technology Review estimates that about 20 pregnancies of pig-human or sheep-human chimeras have been established during the last 12 months in the U.S., though so far no scientific paper describing the work has been published, and none of the animals were brought to term.
And if you read the rest of the article that I didn’t quote, you’ll see that the US Army is interested in this. Hmmmmm…
But I must be tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist.
You want to create super humans? Stop feeding the stupid ones that can’t support themselves, the exception being people born with disabilities or those that become ill.
So is this only at birth or can I get some velociraptor genomes now?
I don’t think it really works like that.
I however am not biogenetic engineer or whatever their called.
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Read post #29
Science marches relentlessly on. The genie is out of the bottle. Ain’t goin’ back in. Genetic manipulation is absolutely part of our world now and will become increasingly so. Instead of trying to artificially limit scientific advancement and its implementation, we’d be better off hashing out the way to approach this new reality.
Unfortunately I do believe you are correct. It’s already too late to stop this.
Great. Now we will need to isolate a group of non-modified humans to create a control group, so there will be humans left if this whole genetic genie renders the human race sterile.
Me personally, I would never do it. I’m a fat bald bastage, and that’s my lot in life. Now, if there was a doctor who could beyond a shadow of a doubt help my son walk, I’d sell everything to make it happen.
Doc, I understand a lot of your concerns. I’ve had (and still have some too), but we can’t go through life thinking “what if” all the time. Your rationale on this is the same as the gun control crowd. What if is just what if. Pound the evildoers into the sand. If they (gene splicers) break the law, then they deserve what every other criminal deserves. Lumping a whole science into on category is what they want, and it is fear mongering.
I used to be totally on your side of the fence, then life and reality hit me. As I’ve grown older, and watched my son grow older I’m sure there’s a way that science can help prevent and cure a lot of the problems we never thought cureable. Polio has been used as an example, and it’s a great one. How far have we come since then? A heck of a lot. Sure someone will try to break the rules (law if you will), and that’s when it’s the government’s job to step in and stop it.
Genetic splicing and stem cell research are good things. Can they be abused just like anything else? You bet. You can’t blame the truck, gun, knife etc… any more than you can blame the science either.
I dbl. majored with a minor in Microbiology. Worked in a Genetics lab and did gene manipulation.
We were using viral vectors to insert genes into Drosophila. Stop codons were of particular interest to our research. Loved running the DNA gel electrophoresis to see if successful. Was a nerd for the PCR machine as well. DNA sequencing, PCR machines, HAC(s), CRISPR machines, etc., most people have no clue how far we are already down this path.
The changes in genetic manipulation that have occurred in the past 10-20yrs. are staggering.
There is a phuck ton of bad things that could be brought about through genetic manipulation. There are also plenty of good things that could be brought to the table.
However, considering human nature, it could bring us some bad news.
To me, it would be really interesting, and challenging, to try and genetically manipulate and select for traits, manipulate, select, over and over, until I made a Black Widow that could fly, with a venom toxicity that has been increased 50X, and the ability to breathe underwater. Now, put those same tools in the hands of nut jobs, BG’s, state actors, etc. that don’t have the same mentality, ideology, whatever, and…
Curiosity can kill more than the cat.
Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy: Just raise them with better morals than the person who posted this:
You want to create super humans? Stop feeding the stupid ones that can’t support themselves, the exception being people born with disabilities or those that become ill.
Being that sterility would be a result of genetic engineering and that sterility is something that can be fixed through genetic engineering… I don’t think you need to worry about it.
Even so, we’re rapidly approaching a time when, “test tube baby,” might not mean someone conceived in a lab but grown in a womb, to someone conceived in a lab and grown in an artificial womb.
I’m half-kidding, but I wonder if it will be legal to hunt human-hog hybrids by helicopter?
(Love the alliteration). :jester: